An Apostolic Response to David Arthur Reed 4

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It is within the context of the correlation of theology and experience
that what reed terms "Jesus Centrism" must be understood. Jesus
Centrism, according to Reed, was a Pietistic attempt to give a
theological expression to the person of Christ apart from abstract and
speculative thought.  Its primary concern was with the relationship of
the believer to Christ, the place of Christ within the doctrine of the
Trinity being ignored.  In contrast, the Christocentrism of Protestant
Evangelicalism is said to give Christ the preeminent place in
articulating a proper systematic theology.
	Reed's designation of AP as Jesus Centrism is a tautology, a needless
restatement, based upon his failure to correlate theology and experience
and his subsequent negative evaluation of Pietism.  For any theology to
be called Christian it must give the preeminent place to the person and
work of Jesus Christ in its articulation. If Christocentrism is defined
as the desire to make the person and work of Jesus Christ the dominate
theme and guiding principle of theology, then AP is thoroughly
Christocentric.  This Christocentrism need not, as Reed maintains, be
discernible in a systematic form to be present.  Christocentrism can be
the vision which guides all theological expressions (Williams
1983:99-100).  AP articulated a Christocentric theology within the
context of American Fundamentalism whose chief concern was to defend the
deity of Christ. Apostolics gave a Christocentric interpretation to the
doctrine of God emancipating themselves from Trinitarian dogma while
maintaining continuity with other Fundamentalist tenets.  That Jesus
Christ was given the preeminent place in their theology was not only do
to their dynamic experience of Christ but to the Christocentric nature
of the New Testament.
	The writers of the New Testament were radically Christocentric in life
and theology.  The coming of God in Jesus Christ was a unique event
which necessitated a new understanding of revelation, salvation, and
creation.  The revelation of God was seen as only coming to and through
Jesus Christ.  Matthew (11:25-27) and Luke (10:21-22) clearly state that
"no one knows who the Son is except the Father and no one knows who the
Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal
him."  John elaborates on this concept in his Gospel.  "No one has ever
seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Fathers side has made him
known" (Jn. 1:18).  Because Jesus and the Father are one, a person who
sees Jesus sees the Father (Jn. 10:30; 17:11; 14:9).  No one can come to
the Father except through Jesus Christ for He is "the way, the truth,
and the life" (Jn. 14:6).  Paul too, emphasizes that a knowledge of God
is only possible through revelation (Rm. 1:19).  While this passage does
not refer explicitly to the revelation of God in Christ it does speak of
the "glory of the immortal God," the same "glory of God" which is seen
"in the face of Christ"  (II Cor. 4:6).  Christ is the very "image of
the invisible God, the only one who can reveal God to man"  (Col.
18:5).  "All New Testament writers agree that God is known only through
His self revelation and that this self revelation is the revelation of
Christ"  (Grant 1966:13). 
	 Just as the revelation of God was to be found only in Jesus Christ, so
salvation was seen as residing only in Him.  Repentance and forgiveness
of sins are to be proclaimed in His name (Luke 2:47).  Whosoever
believes in Christ will not perish but have everlasting life (Jn.
3:16).  There is no salvation in any other name (Acts 4:12).  Redemption
and reconciliation are to be found only in Jesus Christ (Col. 1:16).
	Finally, creation was viewed as being through Jesus Christ.  "Through
Him all things were made;  without Him nothing was made that has been
made.  He was in the world...and the world was made through Him" (John
1:3,10).  "For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers, or
authorities;  all things were created by Him, and for Him" (Col.  1:16).
	Revelation, salvation, and creation for the first Christians were all
interpreted through Jesus Christ.  For them all theology was Christology
(Cullman 1966:320).  There was no revelation of God apart from the
revelation in Christ;  there was no salvation from God apart from
salvation in Christ;  there was no creation by God apart from Christ. 
The writers of the New Testament were thoroughly Christocentric in their
theology.  Any theology based upon their witness to Christ will be
Christocentric.  Apostolics have a sound Biblical and theological basis
for being Christocentric.
	To articulate a Christocentric theology is to continue in the heritage
of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther and John Calvin returned to
a Christocentric emphasis in theology in opposition to the prevailing
Scholasticism of Roman Catholicism.  The Scholastics were fascinated by
logic and the ability of human reason to know God apart from
revelation.  Theology was combined with philosophy, particularly that of
Aristotle, and large systematic treatments of biblical questions were
produced combining Scripture with philosophy.
	Martin Luther characterized the theology of the Scholastics as a
theology of glory.  It was a way chosen by fallen men to find God by
their own rational powers apart from the revelation of God in Jesus
Christ.  While Luther believed that man can know that God exists 
through His works in creation with the aid of reason, he was certain
that man could not know who this God was apart from Biblical revelation
(Ebeling  1972:234-235).  A rational knowledge of God divorced from
Jesus Christ leads only to a speculative theology which creates a God
who dwells in Glory untouched by the world of humanity. Such a theology,
concerned with God in Himself apart from Christ, "belongs in hell with
the Devil"  according to Luther (Ebeling 1972:228). 
	The fundamental orientation of Luther's thought was toward Jesus
Christ.  His theology was a theology of the cross.  "The knowledge of
God which is given in Jesus Christ does not...constitute a particular
item of doctrine which supplements a general knowledge of God, but the
beginning of all true knowledge of about God"  (Ebeling 1972:228).  The
God of the Bible is not the transcendent deity of the philosopher,
majestic, powerful, uncaring, and unmoved by the needs of man.  The God
of the Bible is the God who becomes flesh, who comes to man, who gives
Himself to be known, who is experienced, who suffers shame, ridicule,
and death on the cross.  The God of the Bible demonstrates His love
toward man in concrete, historical actions, and then instills faith in
the heart of man.  For Luther the definitive revelation of God takes
place in His suffering upon the cross in Jesus Christ.  God could not be
known apart from Jesus Christ!
	Although Calvin disagreed with Luther on a number of points he always
saw himself as faithful to the basic tenets of the Lutheran reformation
which included a Christocentric emphasis in theology.  Apostolics, in
seeking to articulate a Christocentric theology, demonstrate an
essential continuity with the great Protestant Reformers.
	Our next post will examine David Arthur Reed's definition of Apostolic
Pentecostalism as a Jewish Christian theology.